


Alive

by zerOphelia



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Fluff, GFP Banquet, Introspection, M/M, Otabek is Challenged by Yuri to Win Gold, Short One Shot, implied smut at the very end but sfw, pining otabek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 09:59:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18092219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zerOphelia/pseuds/zerOphelia
Summary: Otabek ponders over the events that brought him to his first GFP Gold, all the while knowing a bigger prize is waiting for him.





	Alive

Otabek is certain this is the time. He has to do this now or give up on the whole thing. 

He and Yuri have been friends for 5 years. They survived their first awkward text messages. Their awkward phone calls and facetimes. They survived Otabek’s first trip to St. Petersburg when the airline lost his bag and his hotel reservation fell through, leaving him with nowhere to crash but Yuri’s shared apartment with Mr. Feltsman and Madame Brynovskaya. They survived countless competitions where they were both busy with sponsors and could only spare time for each other to secretly order pizza late at night and crash on opposite sides of the couch in one of their hotel rooms. 

They survived Yuri’s 18th birthday when he got on a plane and flew to Almaty in the middle of the night without a care in the world, showing up at Otabek’s family home welcomed by his parents and five sisters-- two of them with husbands and children of their own-- all stuffed under the same roof. It hadn’t been the crazy birthday celebration Yuri had expected, but he had gotten well acquainted with Otabek’s family. And watching Yuri read bedtime stories to his nieces and nephews while his youngest sister helped turn the pages did dangerous things to Otabek’s heart. 

They survived JJ’s wedding. Yuri was livid upon receiving the invitation, annoyed to think that JJ thought Yuri gave a shit about his life. Otabek used his special power to make Yuri do things he never wanted to do and begged his friend to accompany him to the wedding. Not to mention the very embarrassing moment when JJ’s parents asked Otabek if Yuri was his boyfriend and how he hesitated with the answer much too long for comfort until Yuri blew it off, using all of his narcissistic charms to insist that Otabek wished. Though, Otabek hardly survived the sheer terror that Yuri may have understood just how right he was. 

They survived their trip to Hasetsu for Victor’s retirement party, when all of Yutopia Katsuki had been filled with skaters and Yuuri and Victor’s closest friends. They survived Phichit’s dance-off challenge and the sight of Christophe in full nudity. At the end of it all, Otabek was unsure if he should thank or curse whatever god for the plentiful fountains of sake, and the soft look on Yuri’s face right before he kissed him, cheeks burning with alcohol. He didn’t know if he should count the taste of sake on Yuri’s tongue as a gift, or write it off as a blunder to be forgotten just as Yuri had forgotten it the next morning. 

Well, maybe Otabek hadn’t fully survived that one. 

In truth, he has felt himself slipping ever since-- unable to think rationally. Only months had passed before he had decided to leave his home rink behind, begging Victor to take him on as his student so he could move to St. Petersburg just to be near Yuri. It was absurd, really, to hastily leave behind his parents and his coach and chase after his own best friend. But when Otabek closed his eyes and his mind filled with Yuri, red-faced and smiling with their lips only centimeters away, he lost all reason. 

Still, his self-control came in buckets from the years he spent as the fly on the wall. He contented himself to be close to Yuri. To watch him every day, in the same rink. To feel his body heat only in the locker room when he aids Yuri with his stretching. To caress his hair only in jest when Yuri is being too hard on himself in training. He asks for nothing more than what his given to him freely. 

Until now, that is.

Otabek sits in the armchair of his hotel room hours after the ISU banquet has concluded, his tie undone and loose around his neck, jacket long abandoned and shirt buttons askew. In his hand sits the gold medal he had won the night before. He runs his fingers over the cool metal, memorizing the dips of the emblem impressed onto its face. He stares at it, the symbol of undeniable victory in his fists. The very thing everyone strives for. What many live for. 

But he has only survived until now. 

He stands, his brown eyes burning to reflect the embers of his mind. Placing the trophy on the hotel dresser, he grabs his key and moves to exit the room. The hall is quiet, still, and freezing-- a juxtaposition of the all the intimate activities undoubtedly occurring behind the closed doors. Still, he moves down the corridor until he arrives at his destination. As he lifts his hand to knock on the wooden surface, he closes his eyes and pulls this treasured memory to mind one last time:

Yuri, long golden hair held up by chopsticks, scantily dressed in a Yukata not quite worn to full propriety, takes Otabek’s hand and pulls him away from Yutopia and out to the silent streets of Hasetsu, sushing all of the older man’s protests. Their hands remain locked as they come upon a bridge. Yuri stops and looks out onto the water wistfully for several minutes before finally speaking, “This view always made me feel at home here.” 

Otabek gathers he must have been speaking about the time he followed Victor to Hasetsu all those years ago.

“It’s beautiful. Like the view next to the rink in St Petersburg.” Otabek offers.

Yuri’s head whips around with wide eyes, like Otabek said something crazy, but it doesn’t take long for the look to soften. Placing his free hand on Otabek’s cheek, Yuri smiles and says, “Now to feel at home, I just have to look at you.”

Otabek’s heart nearly stops, his spirit threatening to leave him from sheer happiness, but the half-lidded look in Yuri’s eyes keep him tethered in this moment as he bends his head slightly to close the distance between them. Yuri steps closer, his mouth opening with deep promises, lips pulling greedily at Otabek for all too short a time before he moves away again. 

Otabek needed more. He needed to confirm that he wasn’t dreaming, and reaches to pull Yuri close to him again only to be pushed away.

“Ah ah ah!” Yuri scolds, the slurred noises like a burning tease as he moved one finger to hold back Otabek’s lips before pressing his own close to the other man’s ear, “No more kisses until you beat me to the top of the podium.” 

Judging by the way Yuri acted the next day, he had forgotten the whole thing.

But maybe...

Otabek could hear himself knocking before his body registered the movement. A moment of silence passed as he debated walking away. It was ridiculous. It must have been a dream. 

The click of the deadbolt lock turning from the other side of the door dared his heart to keep beating.

Thadump...

Now the lock on the handle.

Thadump...

The scrape of the door against the frame.

Tha--

“Bout fucking time, Beka. How long were you gonna keep me waiting?”

Yuri stood by the doorway in nothing but a bathrobe, his silky, yellow hair lying wet on his shoulders. But that didn’t stop Otabek from reaching to comb it with his fingers.

“Sorry, Yura. I got here as fast as I could.”

As their lips touched, as their bodies hit the mattress, as they took their time to worship each other and come undone together, Otabek was sure that he finally knew what it felt like to be truly alive.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot I cooked up one day. Please let me know what you think and if you liked it, maybe follow me:  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/suzuchan-nc  
> https://twitter.com/nihonchaser


End file.
